M A I N   N E W S

Cong offers transport, SAD gives free fuel
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service

Vehicles hired by the Congress to ferry supporters and voters to booths on the polling day in Kapurthala on Tuesday. —  Tribune photo by Pawan Sharma

SAD workers collect slips to get free fuel to ferry supporters and voters to polling booths on the polling day in Kapurthala on Tuesday.

Kapurthala, October 12
In an utter violation of the code of conduct, workers of the two rival political parties today arranged for hundreds of vehicles to ferry voters to polling booths during byelections in the Kapurthala Assembly segment to be held tomorrow.

The modus operandi of the two parties, the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal, however, remained entirely different. While the Congress hired 400 vehicles, most of them Tata Sumos, from neighbouring districts, the Akalis instead told the workers to come out with their own vehicles and gave them slips for filling 10 litres of petrol or diesel per vehicle.

During a visit to the Ekta Bhavan, the office of Congress nominee, Ms Sukhjinder Rana, hundreds of vehicles were seen parked in the lane adjoining the office building. The drivers who had come from Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Amritsar districts said the vehicles had been hired by Rana Gurjit Singh, MP and brother-in-law of the candidate, and were being allotted duties to reach different booths and villages.

The drivers told The Tribune that they had been asked to reach the allotted destinations by this evening and meet the panches and sarpanches of the villages. “We have been told to take the village heads all around the village today so as to confirm the votes in favour of the Congress. Tomorrow, we will ferry the voters of the villages to their polling stations”, they added. In the poll office of the SAD nominee, Mr Raghbir Singh, at Ramneek Chowk, two persons had been deputed to cut out slips of 10 litre of petrol or diesel per vehicle. The vehicle number was noted down on the slips to be presented to a nearby M.L. Jain petrol station.

Hundreds of Akali workers managed to procure the slips from the office. They said they were being given free fuel so as to reach the allotted booths, go around the village, report the situation to the office in charge and help the party voters reach their polling booths tomorrow.

Ms Rana said all vehicles that were lying parked outside belonged to their acquaintances and were not hired. She said their well-wishers had come from different districts in support of the party.

Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, secretary, SAD, said the petrol slips were being issued only to those workers who had been permanently involved during the poll campaign. He said no vehicle was being used by the party tomorrow to ferry voters.

Mr Jaipal Singh, Returning Officer-cum-SDM, said he was not aware of the situation.